- KAMPMANN EXPECTS THE UNEXPECTED IN 170 DEBUT

by Mitch Gobetz – MMAWeekly.com
Martin Kampmann will be making his welterweight debut against Alexandre Barros at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland.

Kampmann had a solid run at middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but after a loss to Nathan Marquardt back in September, he decided to give welterweight a shot.

“It’s something that I considered for a long time, cutting to 170,” explained Kampmann in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “I pretty much walk around at 185 and on weight for the weight class. I didn’t really cut weight for 185, so I considered dropping to 170. I got a loss, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

“The Hitman” always walked around pretty light at middleweight, but he never saw a reason to drop down a weight class. After all, he was a perfect 4-0 in the Octagon before his loss to Marquardt. There’s a famous saying that goes, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Kampmann believed that to be the truth until his recent loss.

“A lot of people were telling me to drop down to 170 before the loss, but I was like, don’t fix what isn’t broken,” he said. “I was doing good. I think I could still do good at 185, but we’ll try this out and hopefully I’ll be even better at 170.”

Some fighters won’t even look at the video of a loss, but the Danish fighter did view his first loss in the UFC. That doesn’t mean he wants to watch it repeatedly though. “I’ve seen it, but I don’t like watching it to be honest with you. I made a mistake and I shouldn’t have been caught the way I did, but I got a little shaky legs and he hurt me. He was really good at keeping the pressure on me once I got hurt. He never let me back in the fight and I give him credit for that. I shouldn’t of have been hurt in the first place.”

Since Kampmann had never had to drop any weight before, he felt like he should do a test cut. However, after training as rigorously as he does, he found that the weight actually comes off pretty easy for him.

“I did a test cut for 170,” said the 26-year-old fighter. “I’m actually really light right now from the training. I don’t think it will be any problem cutting to 175.”

It’s come full circle for Kampmann, as he was supposed to fight in the UFC’s first show in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before succumbing to his debilitating knee injury. A year and a half later, the Dane will finally be able to come back to take care of some business he couldn’t complete in June of 2007.

His opponent is a relative unknown fighter in Alexandre Barros, however Barros is not a newcomer to the sport. Barros is a Marco Ruas trained fighter and has been fighting for 10 years professionally. He has fought some tough fighters in his time like Matt Hughes, Dave Strasser, and Aaron Riley.

Unfortunately for Kampmann, he hasn’t had the opportunity to view much footage on his opponent, which doesn’t make him as comfortable as he’d like to be. “I don’t know much, but he’s an experienced guy. He fought for a long time. He’s fought bare knuckle Vale Tudo back in the ’90s before I knew what MMA was. I got to give him credit. I’m sure he’s a dangerous opponent. From the little footage I got of him, I can tell he’s a southpaw. I definitely prefer having some more footage on the guy. It’d be a lot more comfortable, but that’s how it’s going to be. I can deal with this, too.”